Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jan 2;24(1):31.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-17414-9.

Experiences with family planning and abortion services during the Covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in Bangladesh, Iran and Netherlands

Khadijeh Asadisarvestani  1   2 , Myrrith Hulsbergen  3   4   5
Affiliations

Experiences with family planning and abortion services during the Covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in Bangladesh, Iran and Netherlands

Khadijeh Asadisarvestani et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Access to family planning services is a human right that plays an essential role in society's health, particularly women's health. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of human life including access to family planning services. Accordingly, the main goal of this study was to explore the experiences of women and service providers from the main challenges and obstacles of access to family planning services and abortion services in Bangladesh, Iran, and the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: In this qualitative study, the data were collected through online, telephone, or in-person semi-structured interviews with key informants. Participants selected by purposive sampling method. The participants included women aged 15 to 49 (n = 63) and service providers (n = 54) in the 3 abovementioned countries. These individuals were included from October 2020 until December 2020. Conventional thematic analysis was employed to analyze the collected data.

Results: The main extracted themes were challenges (reduction of referral; disruption of access to services; insufficient knowledge; worries among staff; rising prices; and unavailability of some contraceptives), measures (time extension and visit scheduling; telephone, online, and door to door services; and support of the media) and recommendations (health facility improvements; free, online, and closer services; and ongoing trainings and awareness campaigns).

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected family planning and reproductive health services in different ways and has uncovered existing inequalities in access to these services. However, in Iran, the reported challenges were also rooted in new population policies that have further limited access to family planning and abortion services.

Keywords: Abortion; COVID-19; Contraception; Family planning; Reproductive health; Sexual health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Family Planning 2022: meeting the changing needs for family planning: contraceptive use by age and method, 2022. UN DESA/POP/2022/TR/NO. 4. https://desapublications.un.org/publications/world-family-planning-2022-....
    1. Latt SM, Milner A, Kavanagh A. Abortion laws reform may reduce maternal mortality: an ecological study in 162 countries. BMC Womens Health. 2019;19:1–9. doi: 10.1186/s12905-018-0705-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chigbu CC, Chigbu CO, Iwuji SE, Emenalo FC, Onyebuchi AK. Impact of abortion laws on women’s choice of abortion service providers and facilities in southeastern Nigeria. Niger J Clin Pract. 2018;21(9):1114–1120. doi: 10.4103/njcp.njcp_369_16. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Larki M, Sharifi F, Manouchehri E, Roudsari RL. Responding to the essential sexual and reproductive health needs for women during the COVID-19 pandemic: a literature review. Malaysian J Med Sciences: MJMS. 2021;28(6):8. doi: 10.21315/mjms2021.28.6.2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Larki M, Sharifi F, Roudsari RL. Women’s reproductive health and rights through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2021;21(2):e166. doi: 10.18295/squmj.2021.21.02.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types